Dank gibt mehr als man messen kann

Thanksgiving. Thanks giving. To give thanks. Giving. Thanking. cause and effect. dialog. interaction. i wish i could always break things down so simply, aber das ist eine andere Geschichte.

[beautiful Thanksgiving view]

what a simple holiday, and yet it only takes a moment to uncover so many complexities. everyone can celebrate. all you do is share what you have, even if it is not very much. even just time spent together is something. Marie could only have an hour with us before she left for Berlin, but she wrote me a thank you letter. something American well received. my heart melts like Pap's turkey in your mouth.

speaking of which, my turkey was pretty dry. honestly, that's not bad considering i had to be in class for three hours while it cooked. i need some serious counseling on stuffing, though. i have no clue. it may taste alright, but it looks like shit. literally. no, more like the organs you have to pull out of the turkey. another side note: Oli totally knows about cooking the giblets. Grammy, i've found your partner. the biscuits flopped. in all of my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants recipes, i really need to take more time getting to know the difference between baking powder and baking soda. the sweet potato pie was awesome, and the sweet tea too. the Texan liked it. today had a bit too much English speaking for my taste, but i guess it IS an American holiday.

[sweet potato pie with minis from the extra]

again, i have the most awesome roommates. Grégory gave me an American flag to hang, even though he knows i'm not so gung-ho about my country sometimes. it was funny though, when i was so careful to not have it touch the ground. i was alone in the kitchen this morning taking it down (only for special occasions), wondering what i was going to do with it, and then i remembered teaching Kirsten how to fold a flag in 5th grade. i'll save that for Grég later today when we eat our skimpy leftovers together.

quick shout out: 5th grade was amazing because i had the coolest teacher (Keith Hindman), who rode a motorcycle to school, and i had both of my best friends (Kirsten and Ashley) in my class. when Kirsten and i would take down the flag at the end of the day, i always loved the feel of the stars stitched into the blue fabric. thanks to Mom for giving me respect for Old Glory. she'll reprimand superior officers for displaying a tattered flag.

btw, i just made some bangin' turkey pastry.

Schloß im Nebel

so, we took this excursion to Hohenzollern three weeks ago. sorry. got a little caught up in living. the week after was a party in Geissweg, the Aufbaukurs Abendessen, Shiori's birthday party, Hungarian goulash with Gabor, helping Lisa for several hours with her resumé in English and an Abendessen with the roomies and a couple guests... all in consecutive days.

the slow, quiet day in the castle seems so foreign now. nice to flashback, though.

it was beautifully foggy, the first bout of cold weather. people complained, but i relaxed in the eeriness. plus, the stones of the building were damp and brought out the colors. gorgeous, in my opinion.

this was my first time actually inside a castle that had an inside to be seen. damn, bitch! check out that bling! you know how i am about woodwork. i spent a lot of time just looking at the ceilings. there are a couple pictures in the album, but the light was minimal and we weren't supposed to be taking pictures at all. haha! did you expect any less of me?

these were also the first death masks i had seen. i have seen dead people, and their faces, but not death masks. i love it! brought back memories of Robin's dad, Brent, working at a prison in Canada were they made death masks of all those executed. it's a wonderful surprise to delve into your reserves and have new experiences with what you already know.

after the castle, we walked back to the train station. again, complaining. i just took pictures and enjoyed the weather and the scenery. no beautiful pictures of a castle on a hill. reminds me of my first time at the Matterhorn. brought back slightly more pleasant memories of Asshole-E. doesn't make me regret my choices, though.

insert crazy, aforementioned week. next week = test on Monday (makes me feel like shit), darkroom photography (thankfulness that my life is not as crazy as when i was submitting to the photo program), brief chat with Tangredi (reminds me of Uncle Tosh), getting a package from friends (surprising flash of INSTANT homesickness, love you though), meeting Francesco's friends from Italy (amp up the missing-the-friends factor), talking with Guy (glad to contribute some photo knowledge and be well-received), bought a turkey with the roommates (thrilled that they are excited), Pirate Party (blow out the homesickness speakers), woke up with my painted-on eyepatch and felt right at home.

Sunday morning was very pleasant. the roomies enjoyed the eyepatch. we sat in the kitchen in our PJs and talked over coffee for a while. the weeks before had a vibe of stress coming from everyone. the parties seemed to work out the kinks. after we got everything out of our system, that morning there was a general atmosphere of camaraderie.

curious. perfect precursor to Thanksgiving.

side note: in several conversations that i have had about roommates, i have the best in the world. can't wait to share Thanksgiving!

btw, i also apologize for lack of captions. not feeling too creative today. grammar time in the studying, not vocabulary. you're smart. fill in the blanks. =)

normale Monat

i got a card from Robin this week. a photo that i took for the wedding was on the front. i read as i was going up the stairs to my Wohnung and walked two floors above mine. my memories of that week are beyond words.

my bike officially has only one gear now. it's not too bad, so i've been lazy about getting it fixed. Vodaphone put advertisement covers on everyone's seat. it was a very welcome surprise since i fight for sheltered parking when it rains.

we finally started Aufbaukurs. i got a sour reminder that in Sommerkurs and Startkurs, i should have been aggressive about getting into a higher class. Giorgio made it into B2 and i was very proud of him.

i didn't feel like spending money on posters that i would probably not take home, so i just hung orange paper on my wall. it's as good as painting, i guess.

had coffee with Guy and also a very nice American conversation. i've got my selective English speaking organized. Diana is for computer/anime geek talk and winter in the mountains. Frances-Kate is for smart-ass North Carolinian. Patrick for books and sailing. Gregor... once he gets rolling, it's out of control and i just go with the flow.

i randomly tried making cookies without any form of measurement and they were quite successful. i tried again and it was catastrophic. still, plain old chocolate chip cookies are in my lineup for Thanksgiving dinner with the roomies. the rest of the team includes turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, coleslaw and homemade popcorn. i'm debating about trying my hand at sweet potato pie.

got my SLR body in the mail. only one roll of slide film, but i'm excited to test it out. i missed the best part of Autumn for color. =( we still have the orange and red leaves, but not yellow. my favourite season passes by too quickly here.

looks like not too much activity coming up, so you'll get little blurbs like this. we'll see. Guy and i want to go to Stuttgart and check out the art museum and there is always the photo class.